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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27689200">Wooden Burrow</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redluc/pseuds/Redluc'>Redluc</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Wooden Burrow Series [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fantasy, M/M, Multi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 06:42:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,513</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27689200</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redluc/pseuds/Redluc</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Max is a chronic asshole and an amateur drug dealer, Michael is his only “friend” and bodyguard. In a world of racial tensions between Abnormals and humans, Max and Michael fall on two different sides of this divide, but somehow have managed to retain some semblance of a friendship. Together they are thrown face-first into the shit storm that is highschool life in the small rural town of Wooden Burrow. Being forced to form a strange alliance with the most opposing people possible, they have to face a threat that is far bigger than them all.<br/>Max feels able to take on any social, physical, and mental danger there is, and Michael is prepared to protect him from any threats he underestimates, but neither of them are ready for the unnatural dark horrors that lie in the Darkwood, just outside the city.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Wooden Burrow Series [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2024864</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Wooden Burrow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is intended for mature audiences.<br/>Trigger Warnings include: Racism, Homophobia, strong language, sexual themes, graphic violence, bullying, harassment, transphobia, and people being shitheads.<br/>All content is written from a realistic perspective of how people suck. Be warned.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>Chapter 1<br/>
Max’s Birthday</p>
<p><br/>
           It was the early morning, the air was damp and cold. A small gust of wind blew through the open window in the room, ticklings Max’s nose. He groaned loudly and shifted from his side on the bed onto his back. His eyes fluttering open slowly as he looked up towards the white ceiling. His head was reeling with a bad headache. He sighed and yawned loudly. The blaring sound of his alarm ringing from the phone on his bedside table below his window. He raised slowly, the bed sheets and blankets falling from his chest as he reached towards the phone and swiped the alarm off on his home screen. He focused squarely on the phone in his hands for a second, weakly pulling his legs from under the bed sheets as well to hanging off the side of the bed, touching the cold dark oak hardwood floor. He sighed looking around the room seeing the disaster it always was. He had clothes strung about, covering the dark wooden floors, his bed was a shitty little bed frame he had had since he was a child, its brown wooden posts being scratched up from everything from roughhousing to bitches he had brought over digging into his furniture to hard. It annoyed him. He had a similar wooden desk that looked like it came in a set of sorts. It was also rather scratched up along its sides. Mainly from Max digging his knife or a pen into its sides while attempting to do homework. Though he rarely did. This was showcased in the copious amounts of paper and notebooks on his desk, as well as old textbooks he never read or used. Other than that there was a standard dresser on the wall at the end of his bed, a small closet with a sliding door to his right, the desk right beside it tucked into the corner of his room. He sighed and stood from the bed with a heave, his body heavy with exhaustion, he had only gotten about 3 or so hours of sleep last night. He shook his head, and outstretched his arms towards the ceiling, the light white shirt he wore with his plaid pajama pants failed to conceal his torso as he stretched. His thin torso was exposed to the cold air. His white small wings outstretched as he shivered, his arms went down, his body feeling a bit looser now. He looked at the window beside the white cheap small bedside table, walking over and shutting it. It was cold as hell.<br/>
Max looked around on the floor and grabbed a thick black jacket and threw it on over his wings, the warm fluff inside quickly protecting his bare arms. He needed to get ready for school.<br/>
 He made his way through the messy room, by now knowing exactly where everything was despite the mess and taking the usual path through his disaster, entering into the rest of the house which was only slightly better. He made his way towards the bathroom down the hallway, the mess of boxes and clothes that lined its sides being a common obstacle to avoid. He entered the small bathroom, it being one of the cleaner rooms in the house. He made his way across the clear tile, it was also cold as hell. He stepped on the soft fuzzy matt in front of the sink and looked into the mirror, not expecting to be impressed.<br/>
And he wasn’t.<br/>
He sighed a deeply disappointed sigh. His almost shoulder-length hair was a thick wavy mess, he had naturally large curly hair and when he didn’t take care of it it just was this large wavy mess. He could also see the deep bags under his eyes from the constant lack of sleep due to his “teenage insomnia” as Marie loved to call it. It’s not like he’s been this way since he was a kid or anything. Max was a smaller guy, with dark curly hair and dark hazel eyes. His face was very lightly freckled and unblemished these days. He had thicker eyebrows and fairly feminine lips. He hated that about himself, he had always been on the “girlier” side and it hadn’t fared him well in middle school. His jawline was short and his face had a much softer look to it, his nose being on the bigger but more straight side. He had big eyes and a thinner shorter frame, which made him hate how un-masculine he looked, it was a part of the reason he was such an easy target in middle school. That paired with the slightly pointed ears and smaller useless wings on his back really didn’t help either. He was a Homoangelus, or more commonly known as an Angy (an-gee), a subsect of Abnormals characterized by having wings (sometimes functional) and more pointed ears. He was a useless Angy as well since his wings were way too small to carry his body weight. He grabbed the hairbrush to his left on the bathroom counter and started to attempt to tame the messy hair on top of his head. He brushed through all the knots but today was just not working, he must have slept on it funny after his shower because the right side of his hair was doing this weird thing where it stuck out in a large curl- it didn’t look good. He grabbed one of the loose hair ties in a small dish on the counter and messily used his thumbs to section the top half of his hair up into a loose ponytail. A pretty common style of his. He then proceeded to wash his face with some skincare bullshit and brush his teeth, he may have been messy but he wasn’t dirty or gross. He then went and changed into some clothes, whatever seemed clean he would throw on. He did pride himself on having a fairly good sense of style despite what some may assume of him. Today he put on some regular jeans with a black long sleeve turtleneck because of the cold weather. He paired this with his favorite pair of nice black boots that he had had for years now, some nice thick socks as well to protect him from the cold. He brought his  thick dark green jacket with him as well. He liked how many pockets it had, good for hiding things. He then packed his bag for school as well, with very little school supplies and a lot of his usual items for work nice and disguised to blend in with everything else, grabbing his pack and shoving it in there as well for later. He then made his way out again and to the kitchen for some quick breakfast. <br/>
When he made his way into the kitchen he was blinded by the bright light of the day that shown through into the white kitchen. The counters were fairly clean today and the smell of food being made. That was new- He looked over towards the stove and to Max’s surprise, he saw Marie at the stove making what seemed to be... waffles? <br/>
 “What the hell?”<br/>
Max said under his breath, confused as to why his mom was home right now, she was always gone before max woke up, she had to head to work at 6 am every day from what he knew. The small darker-skinned woman stood there with a faint smile on her face as she looked towards Max. Marie was a 5’4 human woman with darker olive tone skin compared to Max, who was a very pale boy. Marie had dark circles under her eyes as well, embedded in them were fine lines, she definitely looked her age about 45 and was in her usual grey pants suit for work. She had dark dark brown hair that Max obviously had genetically shared with her. Her hair also being that same big thick curly hair type, though hers was very well done and curled nicely for her work. Marie was a dispatcher at the local police station and worked very long hours so Max never saw her in the mornings, she was always gone by now, it was about 7 or so. <br/>
 “Happy birthday Max!” Marie said with a big smile,<br/>
Fuck. That was today?<br/>
  “I asked to come into work later today so I could make you breakfast for your birthday.” She grabbed a plate with a stack of 3 waffles and walked over towards the small table he ate at every morning and set them down in front of a chair. Max smiled weakly as he walked over to the table, <br/>
 “You didn’t have to mom. I know how important work is to you.” Max said as he sat down, eyeing the food carefully. This was weird.<br/>
 “Well, I wanted to do something nice for my baby boy’s birthday! You're all grown up now…”<br/>
Max sighed annoyed,<br/>
 “Don’t call me that-”<br/>
 “You're 18! An adult!! You don’t need me anymore..”<br/>
Max pulled up the syrup to drizzle onto the waffles, he couldn’t lie this looked really good. He couldn’t remember the last time he had had a proper breakfast. His usual meals consisted of spiked coffee and a hard-boiled egg. <br/>
 “You’ll probably move out soon, find a girlfriend, get married, have kids! Oh, they do grow up so fast don’t they…”<br/>
He cringed at the suggestion of a girlfriend and marriage as he saw Marie move over towards the table, placing a plate with a similar stack of waffles on it and a cup of coffee on the table across from him before she sat down. Marie smiled looking at him expectantly. <br/>
 “Well? How does it feel to be 18 Maxy?”<br/>
He rolled his eyes at the nickname and shrugged.<br/>
 “Not much different.”<br/>
He wasn’t lying, it hadn’t felt any different. He had forgotten today was even his birthday. <br/>
 “Really? I guess that’s because you are already so mature, you do have a steady job anyways-”<br/>
He started to pick at the food and eat the waffles, they tasted fucking great.<br/>
 “How long have you been working at that old shop? Lasting Treasures was it?” <br/>
He froze up as she asked and choked on his food a bit.<br/>
 “Uh..4 years now- I think”<br/>
She nodded.<br/>
 “Yeah! You're very lucky to have gotten such a steady job at such a young age...I’m so glad you haven’t turned out like your father.” Marie said bitterly, Max clenched his jaw as he didn’t respond to that comment, continuing to chew on his food.<br/>
 “Oh uh by the way! I got you a small present-” She said with an enthusiastic smile, turning around to grab something behind her chair. “It's nothing much because money has been so tight but- I got you this-” <br/>
She pulled out from behind her a bag of fairly decent size, a nice new dark blue backpack.<br/>
 “I know your old one is well...old. So I got you this nice new one, I thought you would like something more practical and useful than anything else! It’s not much but..”<br/>
Max smiled, she was trying to do something nice for him, the least he knew he could do was grin and pretend to be excited by this.<br/>
 “Thanks, mom, I really appreciate it, I did need a new bag-”<br/>
That was true his old bag was falling apart, the strap on the left had broken a few days ago. He grabbed the bag and put it beside his old one, carefully and discreetly transferring his things to the new bag. Not too worried about her seeing anything weird or concerning, he was pretty good with being quick and hiding stuff with his hands. His real job made it prevalent to be.<br/>
 The rest of the meal was eaten in silence before he got up from his seat, pulling his new bag up onto his shoulders. She rose from her seat as well. <br/>
 “Are you heading off to school?”<br/>
He nodded. She walked up and pulled him down a bit, Max being a fair bit taller at about 5’7. She kissed him on the forehead, he would usually protest but she was in such a good mood this morning he didn’t feel like it was worth it to ruin that, despite his discomfort. <br/>
 “Have a good birthday, don’t be out too late celebrating!”<br/>
She said teasingly as she nudged him, he fakely chuckled. It was almost funny that she thought he had friends to celebrate with. He wondered if Michael would know it’s his birthday- He made his way out of the house quickly, getting into his old honda civic. He placed his bag behind in the backseat and quickly reached under his shirt towards his back readjusting his wings to be more comfortable, he always wore clothes over his wings doing his best to hide his Abnormal traits. <br/>
He started the car up and started to make his way out of the driveway, he connected his phone to the shitty stereo via aux and began to play some of his music very loudly. Hopefully, it would help wake him up a bit more. He would need to grab some coffee on the way to school at this rate. First, though, he needed to pick up Michael.</p>
<p>---------</p>
<p>Michael stood outside in the cold frigid morning air by his usual spot, right on the corner of the end of his street. He had the thick heavy wool coat he had been given as a hand me down from his dad on to protect him from the cold. He breathed out another breath and could see the warm air pierce the cold around him. He was waiting for Max, his estranged childhood friend that picked him up for class every day because he didn't have a car, he was only but a few blocks down anyways. Michael's shorter shaggy dirty blonde hair fell a bit in front of his face as he pushed his hands through it with a deep sigh. The telltale sounds of a car came from the left as he looked down the road to see the familiar honda civic speeding down the road. That was Max. The guy was always driving way too fast. The car slowed as it came closer, pulling up to the curb. The car stopped with a fairly rigid halt, it was a much older model of honda civic and Max had saved up for it using the money he made from his “job” years ago. It was a serviceable car and Max loved it, he knew that much. He walked up and opened the car door and hopped in, pulling his black backpack onto his lap as he sat down. Michael was a 6'4 athletic guy, he had a very masculine physique and face shape with a very chiseled jawline. He looked like he could be a model for sure, his eyes a light crystal blue. His body was very well toned and muscular from his love for weight training and athletics, he was on the football team at their school as well, Pine Hills High. Go Wolves. Michael let out a relieved sigh at the much warmer temperature in the car. Taking off the dark wool jacket to reveal the long sleeve crewneck sweatshirt he wore underneath. He placed his bag down at his feet, leaning over to turn the VERY loud music down on the stereo. Looking up at Max who seemed to be watching as he did so. Max shot Michael a glare as the music dimmed.<br/>
 “Hey what the fu-”<br/>
 “Happy birthday,” Michael said, cutting off Max before he could get aggressive.<br/>
Max went silent for a moment with a sigh, he grabbed the stick and shifted the gears as the car started moving again. Max quickly speeding up at least 15 miles over the speed limit on the long empty roads. Michael used to take issue with it but Max always told him “Then don't ride with me if you don't like it,” and that usually shut Michael up. That and this town was so damn rural and small it wasn't like there were a ton of other drivers to worry about anyways. He had gotten used to it was the best way to put it. <br/>
 “Marie got me a new bag.”<br/>
Max said that all to the familiar cold tone of his. Michael looked back at the new dark green bag and nodded with a slight smile.<br/>
 “I got you a gift too.”<br/>
Max glanced over at Michael with a surprised look. <br/>
 “Really? Why?”<br/>
Michael reached down into his bag, shuffling around for the small item he had gotten for Max. Finding it and pulling it out, he handed it to Max.<br/>
 “You needed a new one, and well I'm not gonna use it.”<br/>
Michael said as he held out the small silver object towards him, Max grabbed it with one hand and looked at it while keeping his eyes vaguely on the straight road ahead. He pushed the little knob on its side and a blade flicked open and out of the handle of the knife, making Max flinch a little. Max grinned. <br/>
 “You got me a switchblade?”<br/>
Michael sighed rubbing the back of his neck. <br/>
 “It was my dad’s. I thought you would have a lot more use for it than me, though I'm not crazy about.. you having those kinds of things, you needed a new one, your old one is shit.”<br/>
Max nodded as he flicked the blade back into its handle with ease, flipping the sheathed knife around in his hand dexterously and into the pocket of his pants. <br/>
 “It will definitely come in use..thanks.”<br/>
Max said a bit uncomfortably. It wasn't often Max said thank you to anyone, especially not to him. Michael nodded.<br/>
 “Don't mention it.”<br/>
Then silence fell back over the two, as the very quiet humming of the music and car was the only thing that could be heard at this moment. <br/>
 “I need some coffee so we're gonna be late.”<br/>
Max said breaking the silence as he turned off the given path, going towards the local cheap chain coffee shop. Michael looked over at Max,<br/>
 “Didn't make your usual black and rum today?” <br/>
Michael asked casually. Not seeming to protest being late, if he did Max’s response would be the same “deal with it or leave”. <br/>
 “I can't if Maries there. She was being all weird today too.” Max added<br/>
 “How so?”<br/>
Max pulled into the drive-through for the coffee shop, leaning over and fully turning the music off now. <br/>
 “Being all “my baby's growing up” and shit, made me waffles which was weird too, tasted good though.”<br/>
Michael chuckled under his breath, his mom had done a similar thing when he turned 18. It was funny to imagine hardass Max going through that though.<br/>
 “Sounds about right, that's how moms are. She did raise you.”<br/>
Max pulled up to the screen to order. Breaking away from the conversation to order briefly,<br/>
 “Do you want anything?”<br/>
He turned to ask Michael. Michael squinted at the screens from the passenger seat. <br/>
 “Uh…. Caramel Macchiato sounds good.”<br/>
Max nodded and proceeded to order his and Michaels drink, one regular black coffee double shot of espresso with light cream and a Caramel Macchiato. Michael shifted around in his wallet pulling out 5 dollars cash and handing it to Max to pay for his drink, Max pulled out his old black leather wallet and shifted around what seemed to be a lot of cash, probably searching for a 5 as well. Michael always forgot how loaded Max was from his “job”. Max pulled up the car a bit, waiting for them to get to the cashier window, behind a few cars. Max put his wallet away and leaned back in his seat. <br/>
 “I don't know if ‘raise’ is the right word.”<br/>
Michael rolled his eyes. <br/>
 “You know what I mean.”<br/>
Max looked over at Michael. That tired resting bitch face Max naturally had always made Michael feel like he had said something wrong.<br/>
 “I have some work tonight,”<br/>
Max said bluntly.<br/>
 “What kind?”<br/>
Michael asked, his mood going down at the mention as he slumped a bit in his seat, Max turning back to the road as the car moved up a spot.<br/>
 “A usual wants to meet up after school and there is a pretty big party tonight to kick off winter break.”<br/>
Michael sighed an exhausted sigh. This had put him in a bit of a bad mood now.<br/>
 “A party?”<br/>
Max nodded, they pulled up another spot, towards the cashier window.<br/>
 “Yep, your favorite. Your uh...Your ex invited me.”<br/>
Max said almost hesitantly. Michael groaned as he pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. He could hear Max very quickly and shortly pay for the drinks, avoiding any unnecessary conversation. Max looked over at Michael.<br/>
 “You don't have to go-”<br/>
 “No I'll go,”<br/>
Michael said quickly, moving back in his seat, crossing his arms. Max looked at him for a long moment, taking in all the aspects of him he could without taking too long and being weird. He turned back with a huff. Pulling up another spot. <br/>
 “It shouldn't be too bad, she knows you come with me.”<br/>
Michael pulled his hands through his hair.<br/>
 “That's the problem, Lucy knows everything I doubt she has anything good planned.”<br/>
Max didn't respond for a moment.<br/>
 “Maybe you shouldn't date crazy Abnormals and stick to your own kind then-” <br/>
Michael flinched and shot a glare at Max. <br/>
 “Max-” Michael said sternly before Max cut him off.<br/>
 “I'm kidding Michael, fucking chill out, I'm an Abnormal too dumbass.”<br/>
Michael glared at Max a second more but turned back into his seat as the car started moving again. He knew Max was kidding mostly, he just didn't like hearing that kind of racist rhetoric, especially when he knew Max had probably heard shit like that directed at him seriously. The car moved up again in silence as Max took the drinks from the man in the drive-through window quickly, he handed Michael his drink and started to pull off. Michael sighed as he grasped the warm cup and blew on the steam rising from it before taking a sip, which he quickly found himself choking on. Max looked over at him in surprise.<br/>
 “FUCK- What the hell is this?-”<br/>
He turned the cup around to check the label, how bad did they screw up his order? He gulped down dry saliva at the extremely dense taste of coffee and bitterness in his mouth as he read...wait a minute-<br/>
 “Oh, shit is that-” Max turned his cup and lifted it to look at his label, before letting out a loud laugh. Michael sighed, this was Max’s coffee. Of course, he had gotten it switched up. Michael looked over at Max who was laughing at him.<br/>
 “How do you drink this shit?!”<br/>
Max chuckled and handed him his coffee, Michael quickly switching the cups and taking a big scolding swig of his MUCH better and sweeter coffee. <br/>
 “I'm not a pussy who needs a fuck ton of sugar like you, Michael. I like my coffee dark and to wake me the fuck up.”<br/>
Max said before taking a big swig of his coffee as well. Michael gave him a slightly disturbed look as they began to drive towards the school again. Max leaned over putting the coffee in the cup tray and popping the cap off, he motioned for Michael to open the glove compartment. <br/>
 “Hey, can you hand me my water bottle- it's in there-”<br/>
Michael nodded and opened the glove box and saw the smaller light grey steel water bottle, it was filled with some sort of liquid, he could feel it as he handed it to Max. Max placed the bottle between his thighs as he drove, using one hand to drive and the other to pop open the straw cap of the water bottle. Then using said free hand to gently pour the contents of the bottle into his cup of coffee. Michael watched as a brownish clear liquid came from the bottle- wait a damn minute-<br/>
 “Are you serious Max?”<br/>
 “What?”<br/>
 “Are you spiking your coffee while driving with a water bottle you filled with alcohol and left in your CAR?”<br/>
Max pulled the bottle up, reclosing the cap and handing it over back to Michael.<br/>
 “Got a long day ahead of me, I gotta stay up somehow, and Marie cockblocked me from my usual-”<br/>
Max recapped the coffee and swirled it around to mix the contents softly. <br/>
 “If you have an issue with it, get a different fucking ride.”<br/>
Max said with a nasty tone. Michael went silent, as per usual when he said that, now just turning to look out the window. For a moment there was silence, till he heard the music come back on as Max turned the volume up. The rest of the ride to school was dead silent aside from the music, the hum of the car, and the soft tap of Max’s finger on the steering wheel.</p>
<p>Today was gonna be a long-ass day.</p>
<p>-----</p>
<p> The school bell had rung by now as Max and Michael made their way into the large school building. Pine Hills was the largest school in Wooden Burrow and was filled with a very mixed variation of Abnormals and Humans. It prided itself as an equal opportunity school though the student body did not always reflect that. The large building was made up of 4 different main halls for the 4 core subjects. Science, English, Math, and History. Many different subsets of these classes fall in these halls making it fairly easy to navigate. The halls are all their own separate buildings, making a majority of this school outdoor. Which made sense due to the beautiful topography of the land. The large trees and dense wilderness was something the state of Hailden prided themselves on and protected, it's why everything was so small and rural, all for the state to protect its precious wilderness. There are only about 6 cities in the state. <br/>
 Pine Hills was run by those who seemed to uphold the values of those who ran the state as well. The focus on keeping the campus tidy was immense, littering was one of the greatest offenses here, much less vandalism, keeping to a very tidy campus. <br/>
 Michael and Max had started to make their way through the central hall, or hall A as it was known. Standing a good distance apart from one another, seeming to part ways fairly quickly. Michael being quickly swooped up by his fellow football friends who seemed to be lounging around late before class. Max glared at the sight of the other men, one of them who was only a few inches shorter than Michael, put his arm around Michael's shoulder and pulled him in agressively. Michael quickly pushed him off after he had said something Max couldn't see. Then the small group all laughed and Michael seemed to sigh defeated before cracking a smile. <br/>
 Fucking gross.<br/>
Max thought to himself as he took a sip of his bitter spiked coffee. Relaxing as he turned from looking at Michael across the hall and started to make his way through the building towards his first shit class, English. He passed through the still fairly busy halls, many students still loitering and finding their way to their classes slowly, some rushing through late to class. Max was taking his sweet time making it to hall B where his class would be, in no real rush to deal with his shit teacher. He was almost outside the hall as he saw one of those jock assholes Michael was friends with approach him. He stopped and turned to face him, eyeing him with a cold stare. It was Kaia Hemwald, a pretty popular defensive member of the football team from what Max knew of him. Max hated him, he had dark black hair and tanner almost brown skin, he was a human. He wore the Brass Wolves blue and white letterman jacket with a hoodie underneath, with some fairly normal pants. Max looked at him warily as he approached, Kaia glanced around the hall to see if anyone was paying attention, before looking down at Max. Kaia was quite a bit taller, standing at about 6’3 and well built.<br/>
 “What do you fucking want?”<br/>
Max asked coldly. He knew what Kaia wanted- wouldn't stop him from taking the opportunity to be a dick to him. Kaia frowned as he crossed his arms.<br/>
 “You know what I want man- I...I just recently ran out. Can I meet you after school at the usual place? I have cash-”<br/>
Max tsked as he pulled out his phone nonchalantly, removing his attention from Kaia, <br/>
 “Sorry I already have a customer I'm dealing with after school, then I have to get ready for Lucy's party at the Old Mill-”<br/>
 “I can meet you at the party!” Kaia announced loudly with a hint of desperation<br/>
Max looked up from his phone, his eyebrow moving up with an expression of surprise and suspicion. “I-I mean...I was planning on going already- and well I- I really need some soon-”<br/>
 Max sighed, he gave Kaia a quick scan and could quickly see where the desperation was coming from. He was on withdrawals, it had been a while since Kaia had contacted him for the usual, Max chalked it up to less frequent use or maybe he was just busy. He had not paid much mind but it seemed whatever was keeping Kaia from contacting him for more was less of an issue compared to his withdrawal symptoms. Max rolled his neck, this was a hassle but he could make due. He didn't like doing organized deals at parties, it ruined his flow, but he’d make an exception because of how shitty Kaia’s condition was right now.<br/>
 “Fine. I’ll bring your usual-”<br/>
 “A little extra too!” Kaia said hastily, cutting off Max. Max gave him a glare and Kaia winced, Kaia isn't usually this...desperate or submissive but the withdrawals must have been rather bad. This wasn't Max’s first time dealing with someone in this position. “P-Please-..”<br/>
 Max sighed, “Fine. I’ll bring your usual and a little extra, you bring about...180$ in cash and we can call it a deal. Okay?”<br/>
Kaia nodded quickly with a desperate grin on his face. <br/>
 “I-I’ll see you tonight then!” <br/>
Max nodded, “Yep, drink some water and try to keep yourself collected, isn't there a football game tonight?” Kaia looked down a bit nervously at the mention of it. He nodded.<br/>
“Y-yeah but one of my friends is..they are helping me out before the game tonight if I couldn't get the stuff by then- so I should be fine as long as I get it tonight.” <br/>
Max gave him a skeptical look and looked up across the hall. He saw Michael walking with and talking to the team members of the football team. Michael seemed rather quiet but the others were being loud enough to be heard across the campus. Michael seemed to be keeping an eye on them and looking over in Max’s direction, but looked away when Max noticed. Max scoffed at this and sighed. <br/>
 “Aight. Doesn't matter to me anyway. I’ll see you tonight.” <br/>
Kaia thanked him before Max left out the doors finally heading to his class. As he made his way through the outdoor paved pathways, Max was looking through his shitty 2010 blackberry phone. When a text notification popped up;</p>
<p><br/>
Michael<br/>
180344677890<br/>
Michael<br/>
You on your way?                 <br/>
                                 Yea be there soon.<br/>
Ok.<br/>
                     Here. <br/>
Ok.<br/>
------------------------------------<br/>
                     New messages:<br/>
Michael<br/>
Hey what was that before?<br/>
                                          Nothin really<br/>
                         Kaia wanted to meet up.<br/>
                        I told him i'm busy so he<br/>
                       will meet me at the party.<br/>
Oh. Okay. <br/>
                                     Is that an issue?<br/>
You should have told me,<br/>
Im supposed to be there <br/>
for these kinds of things. <br/>
Thats what we agreed on.</p>
<p>                                He approached me. <br/>
                        You were busy with your<br/>
                   friends. It's not like any real<br/>
                  business happened, youll be <br/>
             at the party anyways so it's fine. </p>
<p>                                  Stop being bitchy.<br/>
 Ok.<br/>
                     Hes on withdrawals pretty<br/>
                   bad btw, he told me one of<br/>
             your teammates is helping him<br/>
               out with that before the game. <br/>
                                               Just a FYI.<br/>
                   Read by Michael at 7:49 AM</p>
<p><br/>
Max groaned as he turned his phone screen off. Michael was obviously pissed at him, that was annoying. He knew by the time he saw him after school he would be fine but damn did it still piss him off. Max sighed as he approached the hall to his class. Today would be another dreary day, at least he would make some money by the end of it, the same old same old. That's what Max thought. Things wouldn't always be this way though.</p>
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